1935? Airline 62-136 help needed -
SteveG - 10-05-2015
I just bought this battery operated console (I know battery operated sets can be a pain), but I loved the Deco styling of the cabinet. There are two upright bars missing from the speaker grill area. You can see the shadow of where they were. Does anyone have one of these sets or pictures of one? Until I get the set here, I can't verify the model #, but there are no pictures of this set online, that I can find. I would think the bars would be squared off, with a flat face to them, judging by the style of the rest of the cabinet.
It's a fairly small cabinet, 36x20x10, so it won't eat too much floor space. The radio was cheap enough too, as battery sets can be, so I thought I might take a chance I can make or find the bars.....
[Image:
http://www.surfacezero.com/g503/data/500/medium/Airline_62-136.JPG]
RE: 1935? Airline 62-136 help needed -
SteveG - 10-05-2015
I posted this on another board also, and got the info from the RadioMuseum.org that this is indeed a 62-136. I'm hoping someone may have one or photos of one to see that bar up close.....
RE: 1935? Airline 62-136 help needed -
Jayce - 10-05-2015
That is one of the nicer looking farm sets I have seen. Sometimes they are worth it just for the looks. Even though it is possible my Philco 30 will never play, it's still neat enough to keep around.
RE: 1935? Airline 62-136 help needed -
SteveG - 10-06-2015
My thoughts exactly, Jayce. I have another Airline console that's in the same era as this one, a 62-123 AC set and this will go great with it. Both cabinets got my attention!
[Image:
http://www.surfacezero.com/g503/data/500/medium/Airline_62-123b.JPG]
RE: 1935? Airline 62-136 help needed -
Arran - 10-06-2015
It's been my experience with battery operated radios that they are really not that hard to get playing, that is once you can come up with a suitable power supply for them. Fortunately for almost all battery operated tube radios of the 1940s through the 1950s, they were designed top operate from standard off the shelf batteries. Typically the newer ones will have an "A" battery of 1.5 volts, and a pair of "B" batteries of 45 each totaling 90 volts. The older sets from the 1930s usually used 2 volt filament tubes, so they needed 2 volts for the "A" side, but for the "B" side they typically used a combination of "B" batteries adding up to 135 volts at the high end, 90 volts in the middle, and 45 volts at the lower end, some weird sets used 22-1/2 for the lower end B+. What is often different with 1930s battery radios is that they required an independent "C" supply for the tube bias, in many cases they used just one "C" battery, but some used two or more.
If you design a battery eliminator the right way you can operate any battery powered tube set from the 1920s through the 1950s, though you can design a simpler one dedicated to a particular set as well and forgo having adjustable voltages. The nice part about battery sets is that you can use mostly salvaged or junk box parts to build the power supplies since the voltages and currents are so low, also most battery radios have such a low number of operating hours on them that the tubes are often almost like new, and the sets will play without being recapped, though I would not trust one over the long term that way.
Regards
Arran
RE: 1935? Airline 62-136 help needed -
JimZ - 10-06-2015
After I posted yesterday(at the other place) I found this close relative to your model. I had hoped the trim pieces on this might be close to what was on your model. Hard to say...and it would be risky to make something based on this shot. Maybe someone will have a complete cabinet or parts. If not when you have your radio youll probably to reason based on the center section what the two single trims probably looked like.
Its a really nice case as you can see in this similar model
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4108/5038366177_11008eac88_b.jpg
RE: 1935? Airline 62-136 help needed -
Jayce - 10-06-2015
My late friend was going to make a battery eliminator for my Philco 30 after replacing any bad caps. Unfortunately, he decided to put the project off until fall and wanted to do a 'battery set day or weekend!' So, my 30 sat at his place for two months and he then ended up passing away.
I'm missing chassis screws, but hopefully nothing else. I hope you can hear that Airline play again someday.
RE: 1935? Airline 62-136 help needed -
SteveG - 10-06-2015
Jim,
Thanks for that really good pic of the 7 tube battery radio . The cabinet on that one has slight differences compared to mine, but it's a knockout in style! When I get the radio, I'll start some sleuthing to try and figure it out. I may wind up buying an original Monkey Wards catalog to see what their picture shows...
Jayce,
Thanks! I hope it'll work again too. I like my radios to work!
Steve